Emad Jassim, Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Programs in MechSE, has received a 2017 Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching from the Office of the Provost. This honor indicates his status as one of the top instructional staff on the entire campus. He also won this award at the college level – as the only recipient of the College of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award. He will be formally recognized at the Celebration of Teaching Excellence ceremony on April 26.
Honorees of this award include faculty, instructional staff, and teaching assistants who demonstrate sustained excellence and innovation in undergraduate teaching and contributions to undergraduate learning beyond classroom instruction. Recipients of the award are nominated and selected by their peers.
Among many achievements, Jassim has led the effort to elevate MechSE’s Senior Design Capstone program, identifying and soliciting high-level industry-sponsored projects.
Professor Andrew Alleyne noted the tremendous effort Jassim consistently puts forth to secure interesting and educational projects and cultivate the department’s corporate relationships. During Alleyne’s tenure as Associate Head for Undergraduate Programs (2014-2015), he said, “Emad was singlehandedly responsible for curating the relationships that led to over $200,000 worth of support for our senior design projects.”
He has also been instrumental in redesigning labs (through equipment and exercises) for several 300-level courses in fluid dynamics, and he has made major efforts to improve the department’s thermo-fluid science and capstone design curricula. He has also been involved with MechSE’s Integrated Design Curriculum (iDesign) project for the past two years. Jassim was previously recognized for his extraordinary teaching efforts: In 2014, he received the Five-Year Effective Teaching Award, voted on by MechSE alumni five years after graduation.
“Dr. Jassim is an exemplary teacher with a pedagogical style that uses active/experiential learning, project-based learning involving real-world applications, and entertainment to connect with students,” said Professor Elizabeth Hsiao-Wecksler, who nominated Jassim for the award. “Our department has gained a reputation in the College of Engineering as being a leader in hands-on education, and Dr. Jassim has played a major role in this well-earned distinction.”
Jassim earned a BS (1999), MS (2001), and PhD (2006) in mechanical engineering, all from the University of Illinois.